«Magic realism» in English-speaking countries

Introduction. According to Wikipedia's historical overview, "Magical Realism" is a primarily Latin American narrative strategy that is characterized by the fact of incorporating fantastical or mythical elements into realistic narratives. This strategy is also known in the literature of contemporary Indian writers. Some scholars believe that "magical realism" is a natural outgrowth of post-colonial writing, which must make sense of at least two separate realities - the reality of the conquerors as well as those of the conquered. Among the Indian masters of realism, Raj Kamal Jha, Salman Rushdie, Arundati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri stand out.

Indian "magic realists" include many techniques that have been associated with post-colonialism, the main feature being the so-called (very peculiar term! - M.R.) hybridization. In particular, magical realism is illustrated in contrasts such as urban and rural, as well as Western and indigenous families, customs, behaviors, mentalities. The plots of the works are usually associated with problems of any marginality, which in itself always creates intrigue and leads to some kind of metamorphosis. The authors heighten the drama of these plots to reveal the ultimate goal of magical realism: a deeper and truer reality than conventional realist methods.

The writer often ironically withdraws from the narrative, it is so disharmonious and sometimes scary. At the same time, the writer is close to magic, otherwise the magic dissolves into a simple folk belief or a fantasy completely divorced from reality, completely out of sync with the truth of life. The term "magic" denotes what the text depicts explicitly, is not accepted in accordance with known, for example, scientific laws.

Time in magical realism

In "Magic Realist Literature" (so you can also call "magical realism") time plays some strange role. Sometimes it goes back instead of moving forward. Sometimes it zigzags all over, or it jumps forward, or it stays still and doesn't move.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie won the Booker Award three times: in 1981 for best novel, in 1993 and 2008 for the 25th and 40th anniversaries of the award as the best work of all that received it. This is an allegory novel, a story about an independent India and a generation that was already born in a free country. This is a myth, a parable, and a phantasmagoria, where the tragic and the comic, satire and pathos, adventure and drama are intertwined, a multifaceted narrative that tells about the life of the protagonist, Salem Sinai, and about the history of India and partly Pakistan from 1910 to 1976 [3 ].

The moment India declared itself an independent country, Salem Sinai was born. Now his fate is inextricably linked with India. He is a telepath, his peers are also not quite ordinary people. Salem tells his story: openly, without embellishment and attempts to justify himself. There is death and betrayal in the book, but anyone can achieve purity, even through pain and fear [2].

“The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy is another linguo-poetic experiment. Indian characters have a much better sense of the internal logic of the English language (not their native language) than its native speakers. They are capable of endless word creation due to their position on the sidelines of the linguistic community - and at the junction of two linguistic worlds, are not bound by rules, have the advantage of an outsider's view.

The writer conveys the myth of England in the minds of the Indian characters and the myth of India in the minds of the English characters. There are symbols of "Englishness" and "Indianness", seen from the outside, and a meeting place of two worlds and two myths (airport). The myth is being tested by reality. The “local color”, “local spirit” (local flavor) is very important. The specificity of the local culture is like a commodity in the global market. This raises the successfully solved problem of the translatability of local cultures into the language of globalization. "Adapted India" is sterile "reserves", abbreviated and simplified sacred rituals for tourists. Sometimes there is (this testifies to the special sensitivity of Arundhati Roy) the theme of guilt towards one's culture for turning it into a profitable product. The natural result of leaving one's roots is alienation from one's own mythology, total desacralization. Perhaps this is a projection of Roy's own feelings as the creator of the highly successful "Indian" novel in the West. [5].

The material presented above does not cover in all depth the possibility of the development of "magic realism" in any post-colonial country - in this case in India. In all likelihood, there are many factors that can contribute or, on the contrary, hinder the emergence of works of this type. It is possible that the point is not only in post-colonialism, but in the long neighborhood of people of different religions, different languages, different cultures. Most likely, some kind of “borderline”, marginal phenomena will definitely arise. They can sometimes be very bizarre -the point, in essence, is the ability of the artist and the absence of bans on fantasy. It is possible that the melting pot, regardless of political systems, has just such an effect. Maybe this can manifest itself in cinema (Kusturica), in painting, but in any kind of art. It is important that a completely rational mind and knowledge are superimposed on the sensual and sensitive nature of a person. Then a labyrinth of memories, impressions, sensations, conjectures, thoughts can be born - all in one flowery carpet.

The image of time and space is very interesting in this connection. The well-known story by A. Posse "The Dogs of Paradise" presents, for example, such a picture of the universe: the crews of the three ships of H. Columbus "Santa Maria", "Nina" and "Pinta", being where they are supposed to be - in the 15th century, constantly they see some other, often outlandish, ships that look like floating cities, which for some reason smoke, from which music comes, and strangely dressed couples dancing a milonga are seen. But these ships - you can guess that they are from the future - never come out ahead of the ships of Columbus. A. Posse visually stops time, showing, as in a fantastic dream, how space takes on the function of time. Here is a quote: “The nose of Santa Maria ripped open the line of the spatial-historical horizon. /…/ A gap appeared in the space-time veil, and people, ships, events began to seep through it/…/ The Admiral was a dreamer and took everything for granted, not trying to find an explanation./…/ So, he could cross from the bridge “Santa Mary” on the bridge of the “Maria Galante” (she will be anchored in 1493/…/) or on the bridge of the “Vaqueños” (or the “Viscanina”, which set sail in 1502)/…/ On Saturday, October 6, he had the opportunity observe three caravels marching towards the great day of October 12, 1492. /…/ He himself stood on the stern area of the Santa Maria! And he tried to see the outlines of the “Maria Galante” through the veil of fog of the future! [one].

So it is in Indian "magic realism" - time "walks" wherever it wants, and A. Roy and J. Lahiri "wrap" it in any nooks and crannies of memory, their own and someone else's.

Conclusion. Lahiri's book is like an album. History of one family. History of one emigration. A little bit about Indian cuisine. A little about Indian customs. Something about relatives and friends. Calm narration. No tantrums, no tragedy. Death, as is customary in Hinduism, is not perceived as something terrible - just a transition to a new quality" [4]. Thus, the bizarre properties of Indian “magic realism” are clothed in a special, often alien to a foreign-language reader, matter, where, on the one hand, the specific aspects of an unsettled life are imprinted, and on the other, its image is ennobled by fantasy, mythology, universal, somehow “ cosmic vision of life. And some properties of a completely different way of life may seem unnecessarily naturalistic to a foreign-language reader: cuisine, hygiene rules, housing arrangements, clothing habits, rules of behavior - in a word, everything that makes up the unique nature of any ethnic group. This fits perfectly into the modern educational and scientific attitude of tolerance, when it is necessary to take into account the definition of “friend or foe” developed in ethno psychology and not for a second forget how strikingly people differ from each other. Without good will and effort, understanding cannot be achieved. In the case of India, this is precisely the problem. This is what determines the work of A. Roy to a greater extent than the work of J. Lahiri, which is shown by the literature of the issue and the impressions of readers who make their publications both in English and in Russian.